Hot Topics:

Weld DA: No charges "at this time" in Erie homicide

Autopsy reveals victim shot, not stabbed

Pierrette J. Shields | Times-Call

Posted:
06/16/2011 02:01:59 PM MDT

Updated:
06/16/2011 03:49:27 PM MDT

Karen Cordova. (Courtesy Weld County Sheriff's Office)

LONGMONT - The autopsy of a 31-year-old Longmont man killed Saturday at a home just outside of Erie revealed that he was fatally shot, not stabbed, as officials reported earlier, according to the Weld County Sheriff's Office.

Karen Elaine Cordova, 48, of Erie was arrested Monday on suspicion of second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder after Weld County sheriff's investigators found Kyle Dust's body on the edge of Cordova's property at 5263 Buffalo Road. They were investigating a report that another man was stabbed at the house, then left to get help.

She was due to appear in court Thursday afternoon for filing of charges, but the Weld County District Attorney's Office announced just before the scheduled hearing that no charges will be filed at this time. Stephen Erikson, 34, of Erie was hospitalized in critical condition with a wound to his abdomen that doctors said was made by a knife blade about 5 inches long. Cordova reported Monday that she confronted the men when they burglarized her home and that Erikson had struck her. Cordova grows medical marijuana on the property, according to sheriff's spokeswoman Margie Martinez.

When investigators searched the property, they found that some of the plants had been pulled from the pots. According to reports, Erikson had met Cordova about two weeks before the stabbing and "cased" her house for a possible robbery when he gave her an estimate for duct work.

Sheriff's reports show that Erikson and a woman had burglarized the house once when Cordova wasn't there on Saturday, then he returned with Dust again, but found Cordova home. Martinez said Cordova did not report the intrusions or the fact that she stabbed anyone before investigators arrived at her door Monday. Martinez said the investigation continues, but detectives have not been able to talk to Erikson, who remains hospitalized, and Cordova is not speaking with investigators.

"The autopsy revealed that the deceased was deceased as a result of a gunshot, so that continues to complicate and add to the investigation part of it," she said, adding that she does not believe investigators recovered weapons while serving a search warrant at the Buffalo Road property.

Martinez said investigators take the state's Make My Day law into consideration before making arrests. She said the nature of the Dust's wounds could play into whether the law applies. She said she did not know where Dust was shot, but if he was shot in the back it could reveal that he was fleeing at the time.

Pierrette J. Shields can be reached at 303-684-5273 or at pshields@times-call.com.

Billionaires, entertainers and athletes alike announced their intentions to pursue the Los Angeles Clippers with varying degrees of seriousness Wednesday, proving the longtime losers will be quite a prize if the NBA is able to wrest control of the team away from Donald Sterling after his lifetime ban for racist remarks. Full Story

Louie, who (like Louis) is a New York comic and a divorced father of two daughters, knows struggle and angst and cloudy wonderment. He views life through eyes with a stricken look, dwelling in a state of comfortable dread. Full Story